While the political wrangling around the Clean Power Plan continues, frontline communities living with the daily reality of climate and economic disruption have quietly created a challenge to the Obama Administration’s EPA Clean Power Plan: demanding that provisions to protect frontline, low-income, indigenous, and communities of color be strengthened. They will deliver this “Our Power Plan” concurrently to EPA Regional Administrators across 10 cities: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle. [Our Power Plan]

This Day of Action falls deliberately between the national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the final deadline for public comment to the CPP’s Federal, or model, Implementation Plan. In the spirit of “nothing about us without us,” the Our Power Plan will be used over the coming years as leverage to protect the integrity of the Clean Power Plan (CPP); and to make sure the CPP’s State Implementation Plans adhere to principles of environmental justice.

“We’re also pushing for something we call a Just Transition away from this extraction economy. We must keep all “dig-burn-dump” energy sources in the ground and out of our air and water. This country is completely capable of creating millions of meaningful jobs and putting our communities back to work building the infrastructure we really need to address the climate crisis. And we want to see working families hit hard by the recession, by pollution, and by climate disruption own and control the assets of this new clean energy infrastructure. This looks like clean community energy, and also zero waste; regional food systems; public transportation; efficient, affordable, and durable housing; and ecosystem restoration and stewardship.” Michael Leon Guerrero, National Director, Climate Justice Alliance

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The Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) is a collaborative of over 35 community-based and movement support organizations uniting frontline communities to forge a scalable, and socio-economically just transition away from unsustainable energy towards local living economies to address the root causes of climate change.

Further

Academics are increasingly, ingeniously fighting back against an Orwellian "Professor Watchlist" aimed at exposing "radical" teachers. The list has inspired online trolls to name their own suspects - Albus Dumbledore, Dr. Pepper, Mr. Spock - and a Watchlist Redux to honor not trash targets from Jesus to teachers daring to "think critically about power." Now 100 Notre Dame profs have asked to join the list in solidarity, proclaiming, "We wish to be counted among those you are watching."